Authors

Archive: June 2016

Been a busy month. One interesting note, the Germans have 3D printed a flying aircraft. No BS. It’s small and unmanned. But, think of the future possibilities. Find a P/C link corroded, no problem. Instead of going through the antiquated process of ordering a new one, just mosey up to your handy-dandy Snap-On 3D part printer. Puts a whole new meaning to signing it off… “Fabricated new P/C link from….” [Read More...]

It's hard to fathom how immense the Pacific Ocean is.
Even looking at a globe, and studying how much of the world is in fact covered by said megga puddle, does not convey the breathtaking vastness of a world of waves. From horizon to horizon. Take that globe, and look up the islands of Hawaii. From Hawaii, go to Guam, which is another.... whole lotta miles east.... Found it? Now, with your finger, trace a line down to Papua New Guinea. How many thousand miles is that? Then, roughly half way along that line, imagine me, floating in all that water, all on my lonesome, with only my life jacket and thoughts for company. And a bunch of hungry sharks of course. Now factor in gale force winds, producing twelve foot waves. [Read More...]

Beginning last year, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released several training-related guidance updates. These releases included advisory circulars, a national policy notice, and most recently, the Flight Instructor Helicopter Practical Test Standards (PTS). In several of my previous training articles, I referred to subject matter affected by the release of this new guidance. I would now like to review a few of the specific documents released by the FAA and provide an overview of how changes may affect you. [Read More...]

In the 1960s and ‘70s a disease seemed to strike the airline industry that caused airliners to crash for no known reason. NASA called a “Resource Management on the Flight Deck” workshop that identified human error as the main cause of several high-profile accidents. NASA’s research uncovered that from 1968 to 1976 there were 60 airliners that crashed due to elements of human error. Researching back further through the Boeing archives to 1940, NASA discovered that four out of five accidents—80 percent—had an element of human error. Since that workshop, six generations of CRM have emerged. [Read More...]